Mindbody in SLO is ranked among fastest-growing companies

San Luis Obispo-based software company Mindbody, which announced a $35 million infusion in venture capital early this month, has once again been named one of the fastest-growing companies in North America as it positions itself to go public.

Mindbody’s software helps beauty and wellness businesses manage all scheduling and sales aspects of their operations within a single system, accessible to owners and clients via web and mobile apps.

The company that began in chief executive officer and co-founder Rick Stollmeyer’s garage in 2001 is now ranked 189 on Deloitte’s 2012 Technology Fast 500 list, reporting 471 percent revenue growth from 2007 to 2011. Stollmeyer projected revenues for 2012 at $33 million.

(Shopatron Inc., also based in San Luis Obispo, is ranked 265 on the Deloitte list, reporting a 299 percent growth in revenue from 2007 to 2011.)

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This is the third year that Mindbody has made the Deloitte list, which recognizes the 500 fastest-growing technology companies—both public and private—in North America.

Stollmeyer spoke to The Tribune on Thursday in a telephone interview from New York City, where the company’s six-member board held its first meeting after completing a $35 million investment round led by Institutional Venture Partners. The company’s existing investors, Catalyst Investors and Bessemer Venture Partners, also participated in the latest investment.

The new capital serves two main goals, Stollmeyer said: to prepare to go public in the next two to three years if economic conditions remain favorable, and to continue expansion into the international market.

When interviewing potential investors, Stollmeyer required that they visit the company’s San Luis Obispo headquarters to get a sense of its culture. “It’s not just about the money, but are they aligned with us? We wanted them to be in it for the long haul,” he said.

He described Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) as a well-connected group with key alliances to move forward. Of the more than 300 companies that IVP has invested in, 93 have gone public. Other IVP investments include such notable companies as Kayak, LivingSocial, Netflix, Tivo and Twitter.

Stollmeyer said that no one party owns a majority share of the company, but founders Robert Murphy and Stollmeyer retain control.

Mindbody’s competitors have between 3,000 and 5,000 clients each, Stollmeyer said. By comparison, Mindbody has 22,000 clients and is adding more than 900 business locations to its network each month, he said.

“This is a business model that demands scale . The leader has the opportunity to become a standard,” he said.

Mindbody has 475 employees, including about 400 in San Luis Obispo. The company has plans in the works to break ground on a new 60,000-square-foot campus near its current location off Tank Farm Road.